A Midwife's TaleA Midwife's Tale
Score Modern
What it's about
Martha Ballard was a midwife and healer in Hallowell, Maine, and from 1785 to 1812 she kept a daily diary: births, illnesses, weather, gardening and the comings and goings of her town. The historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich uses it to reconstruct the life of an ordinary woman and her community in the early American republic, including a rape case, a murder and the hundreds of babies Martha delivered.
Why it's worth reading
It won the Pulitzer Prize for history. It's a landmark of history told from ordinary lives.
You'll love it if you liked
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the RipperGood to know
Each chapter opens with diary entries, which are terse; Ulrich explains them. It's scholarly but readable.
By the numbers
- Readers34 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics63 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller0 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #218 of the 290 memoirs and biographies we rank
- #932 of the 1,573 modern books we rank
- #1726 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
True story
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Quick answers
Is A Midwife's Tale worth reading?
Yes. It won the Pulitzer Prize for history. It ranks #1,726 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 66.3 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is A Midwife's Tale about?
Martha Ballard was a midwife and healer in Hallowell, Maine, and from 1785 to 1812 she kept a daily diary: births, illnesses, weather, gardening and the comings and goings of her town. The historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich uses it to reconstruct the life of an ordinary woman and her community in the early American republic, including a rape case, a murder and the hundreds of babies Martha delivered.
How long does it take to read A Midwife's Tale?
About 11 hours (459 pages), or about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What awards has A Midwife's Tale won?
Pulitzer Prize (History) winner (1991).
What should I read after A Midwife's Tale?
If you liked it, try Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman or The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold.